some sad news
By Dr. Charlie Glickman • Aug 27th, 2008 • Category: BlogThe Associated Press announced today that lesbian activist Del Martin died at the age of 87. For those of you who are unfamiliar with lesbian history and don’t feel like checking out the wikipedia article about her, here’s a brief summary.
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, her partner of 55 year, founded the Daughters of Billitis, the nation’s first lesbian activist organization in 1955. The DoB was intended to be an alternative to the lesbian bars, which were subjected to harassment and police raids. She was also the first openly lesbian woman to be elected to the National Organization for Women (in 1967), where she and Lyon worked to fight homophobia within the organization and supported the 1971 resolution by the National Board of Directors of NOW that lesbian issues were feminist issues.
The women were the first same-sex couple to legally marry in the United States on February 12, 2004 in San Francisco, California. They got to do it again on June 16, 2008, after the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal.
Martin’s contributions to social justice and the struggles against sexism and homophobia changed our world. If you’re not familiar with the early history of feminism and lesbian & gay rights (bisexuals and transpeople didn’t get added untl later), I suggest that one way that you can commemorate the passing of one of our pioneers is to learn more about it.
Thank you, Del Martin, for helping to make the world a better place.
Dr. Charlie Glickman >> Dr. Charlie Glickman has been working at Good Vibrations since 1996, when he joined the staff at our Berkeley store. Currently, he is our Education Program Manager and (among other things) runs our in-store After Hours workshop program, our Off-Site Sex Education Program, trains our Sex Educator-Sales Associates and writes copy for our website. In 2005, Charlie received his doctorate in Adult Sexuality Education from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he offers classes on sexuality for psychotherapists and workshops on teaching for sex educators.
All posts by Dr. Charlie Glickman
Word count for this post: 242
